There is a lot that Cricket South Africa wants the public to get excited about over the coming months.
An England tour, the Under-19 Cricket World Cup, a greater emphasis on the national women’s team and women’s cricket in general, the Pink ODI and the second edition of the Mzansi Super League are all reasons for enthusiasm.
Trouble is, behind the scenes Cricket SA continues to face challenges that could be a distraction for it over the coming months.
One they will have been grateful to have resolved was concerns over the ability of Newlands to host the New Year’s Test match.
That was a public relations nightmare that CSA could ill-afford.
In fact when the organisation’s chief executive, Thabang Moroe made his statement last week that Newlands may lose out on the marquee Test, many within his own organisation were stunned too.
No doubt they’ll all be relieved this morning.
Moroe is still looking to fill the position of director of cricket on a permanent basis, and it was concerning to hear him say last week that the position would probably not be advertised publicly because CSA needs to make that appointment speedily.
That also means no input - or at least very little input - from Cricket SA’s Board of Directors, which could be illustrative of a centralisation of power within the organisation.
It’s all guesswork at this stage regarding what the parameters of the job are.
Also how much input did the Board have in setting those parameters?
What we do know, according to Moroe, is that he wants the Director of Cricket in position by the end of October, he says to give the Proteas the best chance of being successful against England in the summer.
Meanwhile he is also trying to wrap up a commercial deal for the Mzansi Super League, talks are on-going about sponsors for the domestic Four-Day competition, two major provinces, Central Gauteng and Western Province find themselves in different kinds of administrative quagmires and oh yes, the players are still involved in a court case about the restructuring of the domestic season.
While provincial CEOs seemed resigned to the new structure, the players union, the SA Cricketers Association, still want answers about how CSA came to the decision to return to 12 provincial unions - instead of the current six franchises - and the financial implications of that decision.
Moroe made it sound as if he still wanted to maintain cordial relations with SACA, but admitted it was hard to do so.
“It’s very difficult to move with SACA because we have a court case running concurrently and it makes it difficult to negotiate openly and honestly as a result,” he said.
“We are trying as best as we can to cater for the players needs. We feel that before we are halfway through the season we have some sort of agreement with the players, so that we can move forward harmoniously.”
Indeed, right now, harmony does seem to be in short supply in South African cricket.